The present invention relates to a feeder for large bales of hay, and more particularly to apparatus for adapting a hay bale feeder to be transported by the forks of a conventional bale mover commonly found on most farm tractors.
At present, most hay and forage is harvested into large round bales which are substantially cylindrical in shape. These round bales are preferable over the substantially rectangular bales used in the past since they are not easily ruined by rain and the like, and therefore need not be stored in a weatherproof location. Although the round bales of hay do not require inside storage, they are normally moved to a location which is inaccessible to cattle and other farm animals and later moved to a feeding area as required by the feeding schedule of the farm animals. Moving of the bales of hay is accomplished by means of a bale mover comprising a pair of hydraulically actuated forks normally attached to the rear of the farm tractor. The forks of the bale mover are backed under a bale and then raised by the hydraulic lift on the tractor for transportation of the hay bale to the desired feeding location.
When the hay bale is moved to the feeding area, it is necessary to use a feeder to prevent the cattle from trampling and wasting up to 50 percent of the hay. The feeder consists of a substantially circular vertical wall which is placed around the bale of hay. The wall has a plurality of openings therein forming a rack through which the cattle can poke their heads to obtain access to the hay for feeding. The feeder is generally kept in the feeding area, and to place it around a bale of hay, it is necessary to lift the feeder by one edge until it is on its side, roll it to a position adjacent the bale of hay, and then lay it flat around the bale. Since the feeder is rather bulky and heavy, e.g., 8 feet in diameter and 175 pounds, the moving of the feeder in this manner to place it around a bale of hay becomes a cumbersome and difficult job. It is particularly burdensome for those people who are small in size or who have a physical handicap. In addition, movement of the feeder by rolling is not easily accomplished on hilly or rough terrain.
It is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide novel apparatus for enabeling a feeder to be easily transported and placed around a bale of hay.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel apparatus which will enable a feeder to be transported by means of the forks of a conventional bale mover.
Feeding containers which are transported by means of a tractor are known, as shown, for example, by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,892,202; 3,949,706; 3,995,594; and 4,002,147. Each of these patents disclose a combination bale carrier and hay feeder which can be transported by means of a farm tractor.
While the feeders disclosed in these patents can be transported in a relatively easy manner, they are subject to a number of drawbacks, the foremost of which is cost. Each of the feeding and bale handling mechanisms disclosed in the above cited patents is an integrated unit which must be purchased as an entire unit because it has parts which are specially fitted to one another. For example, the bale moving forks disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,002,147 are not conventional forks commonly found on most farm tractors, and cannot be used without a heavy adapter for coupling them to the tractor lift. The feeder mechanism disclosed in the patent is specifically designed around the forks and cannot be used unless it is attached to the forks. The bale handler is fixedly attached to the feeding container during use of the container and therefore a separate bale handler must be purchased with each container.
The feeder and bale handling mechanisms disclosed in the other cited patents suffer from similar disadvantages, and each must be purchased as an entire unit. The combination of an integral feeder and bale handler may affect the ability of the bale handler to properly pick up the bale of hay and transport it, due to interference from the feeder.
In addition to the cost of purchasing these prior art mechanisms, the fact that they can only be used for a single purpose further renders these combined feeding and bale handling mechanisms uneconomical.
A further disadvantage associated with these prior art bale handling and feeding mechanisms is the time factor and inconvenience involved with their use. The cattle feeding area is a fenced in area and, as discussed previously, separate from the location at which the hay bales are stored. Access to the feeding area can only be accomplished by means of a gate. When using the combined bale handling and feeding mechanisms disclosed in the above-mentioned patents, it is necessary for the tractor operator to first drive the tractor from its storage area through the gate to the feeding area to pick up the bale moving and feeding container. The operator must then proceed through the gate to the bale storage area. At the bale storage area, it is necessary for him to get off the tractor to open the gates of the feeding container, get back on the tractor to pick the bale, get off the tractor to reclose the gates of the feeding container and get back on the tractor to drive to the feeding area. It is then necessary to proceed through the gate to deposit the bale handling and feeding container, along with the bale of hay, in the feeding area. He must then proceed through the gate for a fourth time to return the tractor to its storage area. Each time the tractor proceeds through the gate, it is necessary for the operator to get off the tractor to open the gate, get back on the tractor and drive it through the open gate, get off the tractor to reclose the gate, and then get back on the tractor to drive the tractor to the desired location, in order to prevent the animals from escaping the feeding area. It will be appreciated that four trips through the gate for each feeding operation involves a number of time consuming and inconvenient steps.
It is therefore a further object of the present invention to provide a novel feeder moving mechanism in which a bale handler is not integrally attached to the feeding container to thereby reduce the number of steps required in a feeding operation and to permit the bale handler to be used with a number of different feeders.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a novel apparatus which can be retrofitted to conventional hay bale feeders to enable them to be transported by a conventional bale mover, to thereby enable equipment already owned by a farmer to be easily transported.